Import and International Trade

Almost since the dawn of humanity, cultures engaged in import, export and in various forms of international trade.

It is not surprising that today the country we associatively think about when we think of the word import is China.

Not far from where China is today, the oldest evidence for international trade between cultures was found,the trade was emerged between guards from Mosotofmih (now Iran), and residents of the Indus Valley in South Asia in the third millennium BC. In the second millennium BC trade industry was developed, based on import and exports between Anatolia ancient Assyria, and as time passed, more and more trade relations between countries, kingdoms and empires were formed.

It is almost impossible to think of a product today that was not created in another country, in a distant land. But thousands of years ago, most of the economy in different countries was based on local production, and there is no doubt that the various import routes to local economies opened new and varied options.

These products were initially quite simple and basic , and reached distant lands thousands of miles from where they are produced – spices, textiles and jewelry.
But with the development of production, the imported products we could find in local markets increased, today we find that many products, for example: a sofa which was manufactured in Italy, curtains woven in India, to a whole kitchen produced in China, everything is found in the domestic market.

Of course we can not forget the impact of development of import and export routes for human development. The impact on the economy is trivial. International trade encouraged the growth of local economies, with the help of the idea of money developing, which replaced the barter simplistic, and it would not be an exaggeration to claim that without imports and exports, human economy, as we know it today, would not exist.
You can also see the effects of international trade on the development of governments and legal systems. In countries where trade took place with other countries, entire systems developed around this trade that enabled traders defense and security, and gave a stable and secure land commercial activities varied. A prime example of such a system was the Roman Empire, which had a complete system that encouraged international trade all over the world. When the empire collapsed, with its various authorities who have given fertile ground for this trade – the system of import and export collapsed too, and international trade in the Roman Empire was paralyzed.

There is no doubt that trade, encouraged the development of all aspects of life and economy also encouraged pluralism, openness and tolerance towards new cultures. Traders, who imported products from distant countries brought with them not only the physical products, but also the cultural and social baggage of these countries, and thus caused local cultures were exposed to a different culture and different way of thinking than their own thinking, and thus encourage the integration and cooperation between peoples.

this process encouraged openness, exchanging of knowledge, ideas and principles between cultures, and encouraged the growth not only in the economic sphere, but also on the social and political, and created fertile ground for the entire human development.

Looking back, there is no doubt that the importation process of foreign products to new places that their economy was based on local production promoted the exporting economies themselves, helped the development, and promoted them it shaped their economy to be open for changes and developments, and that helped the develop the modern world as we know it today.